![Fijian Joe Tamani has rejoined the Hunter Wildfires. Picture by Stewart Hazell Fijian Joe Tamani has rejoined the Hunter Wildfires. Picture by Stewart Hazell](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/AVQVfAtGgzehhK8J9F6uCU/50e8cc72-921a-42d1-ae59-ade9ee3495a5.jpg/r320_66_3566_1767_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
JOE Tamani is bigger and faster than when last at the Hunter Wildfires but Scott Coleman is most looking forward to seeing how much the Fijian international's all-round game has evolved.
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Tamani played the second half of the Wildfires' 45-15 defeat to a star-studded Easts at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, which was a curtain-raiser to the Wallabies' 40-29 Test win over Georgia.
The 27-year-old played last season in France and has signed a three-year contract with Super Rugby club Fijian Drua.
"It is great to have Joe back," Coleman said. "He started his career here and after finishing in France reached out to us. He will play the final four games and then head to Fiji to prepare for Super Rugby. Hopefully, he comes back again next year. He could have signed with any Sydney club, but he wanted to come back to us, which is great.
"He is big and fast can offload and has that X-factor. He has been in professional rugby for two years now. It is a different game at that level. You get the ball in different channels. With us he has to go looking for the ball a bit more. It will take some adjustment."
Tamani joined the Wildfires from Melbourne in 2021 and set the Shute Shield a light. He returned to the Hunter for the second half of the 2022 campaign and has since been with Fijian Drua and in France at Colomiers.
Standing 195cm and weighing 110kg, the blindside breakaway will also improve the Wildfires' lineout, which was the achilles heel against Easts.
The Wildfires, after conceding three tries to trail 21-10, had a number of opportunities in the Easts 22m, but kept letting them off the hook.
"Jack Evenden gave us great field position with his kicking game," Coleman said. "We had four attacking lineouts and lost them all. Two they picked, one went over the back and another was a miss communication. Andrew Tuala was back after three weeks away and our timing was a bit out. We will address it again this week. Joe gives us another option."
Tuala, returning from Samoan duty, was outstanding around the park. Evenden has his best game and outside centre Tom Watson was a constant threat.
"We played really well in patches," Coleman said. "Against a team as stacked as Easts, you can't have any down periods.
"There were plenty of positives. It was a probably breakout game for Jack Evenden. We set him a goal of out-playing his opposite Jack Bowen and he did that. Tommy Watson was awesome and got players' player.
"The boys enjoyed playing at Allianz Stadium before the test. There were about 10,000 people there for the second half."